Panel Systems

Vertex “stunning” says respected US framing company

Panel Systems Inc., located just outside Washington DC, has grown into one of the most respected cold-formed metal framing companies in the USA – and it quickly became apparent during our interview process a key element of that success lies in the real, time-served, hands-on experience of its people, from the Owner/President right across the piece.

This is a company that knows exactly what it is doing and isn’t afraid to embrace change to maximize efficiencies — and its reputation is such that Panel Systems was trusted with supplying the roofing structure for the Pentagon — badly damaged during the 9/11 attacks. Now, this industry leader designs and fabricates lightweight steel framing systems for commercial, industrial and multi—family housing projects up to 10 storeys high.

Major Projects

Senior CAD designer Dan Miller says the company “tends to stick to the East coast area of the USA, though we have completed projects as far as Texas and Kentucky.” The Vertex BD system for Light Gauge Steel is helping Panel Systems with around 75 major projects a year, working either directly with clients such as the big hotel and bank chains or as a sub-contractor.

As with many companies in the construction sector, the past couple of years have been difficult — but as Dan points out ”We’re coming out on top now.
We’ve been through recessions before and we’ve gone the extra mile to change the way we do business. Vertex is a key element in that process.”

Vertex BD is used for the production of wall panel shop drawings used to construct the panels, together with accurate bill of material reporting for estimating and ordering the wall panel components.

High Level of Accuracy

The system has been customised to allow the panels to be framed according to their engineering specifications such as X-bracing, extra studs and special details at openings. Dan describes the Vertex system as “Brilliant!”: “We’ve tried other systems in the past but they’re not as thorough or customisable as Vertex. We can look at our framing in 3D and correct anything before it gets on site. Vertex gives us high levels of accuracy, more efficiency and better cost sayings.”

He says shop floor queries have also been eliminated: “The information we get from Vertex is clear, concise and understandable. 99.9% of what we put out fits without any site modiﬁcation. You can’t let other trades down on site and if there are no field modiﬁcations it enhances our reputation enormously.”

On the marketing front, Dan says the Vertex Lightworks rendering module is impressive in its clarity: “It’s just stunning! The rendering is, quite simply, superb. Here at Panel Systems we like to stretch the limitations of light gauge steel and Vertex helps us make things work that other people wouldn’t even try.”

Vertex BD is a flexible building design software that automates the creation of architectural drawing sets, panel fabrication drawings, material reports, renderings and manufacturing data, all from one building model. Learn more at www.vertexcad.com/bd.